The End is a Beginning
by Rising-Author-101
Summary: Nobody knows what happened. A dangerous gas was released into the air, turning every mortal into a mindless, emotionless husk... a zombie. Demigods are immune, and when Percy's father leads him to camp, he makes it a personal mission to go back out and bring every demigod he can to safety. (Apocalypse)(AU with gods)(Crap Summary, first chapter is the intro)(Percabeth)
1. Intro

_Run_

My heart raced as horrifying images flashed through my mind.

 _Run_

Terrifying reality began to settle in on me.

 _Run_

This wasn't a dream.

 _Run_

This was real.

The details are fuzzy.

All I remember is some crazy shit about 'the end of the world!', which honestly wasn't anything new for the news channels, desperate to get a good story and increase their views.

Then they came.

Lumps of burning flesh, hordes of them.

I was immune…

My mom was not.

 _Run_

A horrendous screech brought me back to reality, knocking away some confusion at the booming voice in my head that kept pushing me forward… keeping me alive.

 _Watch left._

I made a split second stop, a gurgled gasp of fear escaping my throat as the disgusting pile of meat flew in front of me.

 _Run_

Without any hesitation, I spurred forward. Newfound energy came in a burst, fueled by the slowly settling reality and fear.

There was no easy way out for me. I wouldn't just get bit and become mindless.

I would die… and I would suffer.

 _Almost there… you can do it._

A hill slowly came into view, dotted with figures scurrying about and yelling out orders.

Darkness started to close in, coupled with exhaustion.

"Help," it was meant to be a yell, but cold New York winter air, along with a lack of water had left my throat dry, and unable to produce any sound greater than a whisper.

"Over there! A survivor! Must be a demigod!" Relief flooded through me, overpowering any confusion about being called a demigod.

"Holy Hades that horde is huge!" I didn't even bother turning around, already knowing I had brought quite a crowd with me from my journey across the country.

The apocalypse had started around two days ago, taking the form of a giant cloud of gas spreading from Washington, the state. Infection rates spread faster than even the news could… nobody stood a chance.

Naturally, my home state of California was one of the first infected, but the voice had saved me. It guided me to a car, which I took on a trip all the way to New York, where it promised me I would be safe.

Along the way, I had attracted the attention of many… _unwanted_ companions. I guess they called all their zombie friends and pretty soon I had a whole state's population following me.

"Someone sound the alarm!" I realized I was at the top of the hill and slowly stopped running… big mistake.

"Watch out!"

The world seemed to slow as I spun around; glowing yellow eyes mere inches from my face. I hit the deck, hard, and barely managed to avoid the razor sharp teeth, which I quickly realized they had.

Quicker than what I thought was physically possible, I was on my feet and continuing my race against death to the growing army of soldiers just on the other side of the hill.

My vision blurred.

My legs burned.

My breathing turned shallow and labored.

I hit the ground within a foot of the soldiers.

 **-End Intro-**

 **Ok, so this was literally just a short intro into the story. I, for one, like the idea. But because I'm the best author ever, I can start a new story if no one likes this.**

 **Really, I just wanna know if my writings ok. I could care less if ya'll don't like the story line, cause I can make a new story, but if you don't like my writing… well how can I get better if I don't know what's wrong?**

 **So just tell me** _ **what**_ **you don't like and I promise you I will take it into 100 percent consideration when writing future chapters.**

 **Thanks, PLEASE REVIEW!**


	2. Chapter 1

**-Chapter 1-**

Consciousness flickered just outside my grasp.

It was tantalizingly close, yet only allowed me a few fleeting moments before the darkness crept back in.

Familiar blonde curls would fill my vision each time, but my thoughts were murky at best and left me unable to place where I had seen the cascading golden hair before.

"Your hair's pretty." My speech came out slurred, surprising both the girl and me. I could've sworn I was barely awake. A harsh glare soon replaced her shocked face.

"Yeah, well you drool in your sleep Poseidon spawn." Before my groggy mind could even comprehend what was happening, she was up and out the door to my small room.

Multiple tubes and wires were attached throughout my whole body. My whole lower body was wrapped in bandages, while my torso was less heavily bandaged.

"I guess it's just a Poseidon thing to piss people off."

The wires were flung off along with my covers, and I was standing next to my bed in less than two seconds.

Blonde hair, blue eyes with just a hint of fear, and a signature player's smirk to hide said fear.

"Wow there little guy, no reason to get all excited." I swept my eyes over him before scoffing. I was a few inches taller than him, a little taller than six feet, and we were about the same size in muscle mass.

California had my skin slightly more tanned than his and my eyes were a sparkling green where his were blue.

His smirk was more of a flirtatious one where as mine was playful, we both shared the blindingly white teeth.

My hair was pitch black, long, and wild, sticking up everywhere as if sloppily gelled, where as his _was_ gelled to look similar to mine yet shorter and blonde.

"I'm Apollo," I reached out hesitantly to reach his hand, either he got that nickname because he was a good doctor or- "yes, _the_ Apollo, most awesome god of music, poetry, medicine, healing, and the sun." I snorted and muttered something along the lines of ' _Only_ god of music and the sun', but it appeared he didn't hear me.

"Percy Jackson, most awesome person ever that's for some stupid reason immune to this Zombie Plague." Apollo smirked while gesturing for me to sit down.

"That, I can explain." I motioned for him to go on while he moved around me, checking my wounds and reapplying some bandages.

"Gods, completely immune, has something to do with the fact we have no DNA for the gas to mutate. Demigods may get a headache, or fatigue, but it's nothing to dangerous." I nodded, eager for him to go on.

"Descendants of demigods have varying degrees of response, depending on their parentage." His face furrowed in confusion as he looked at his clipboard. "Actually, according to your dad, your mom could be-"

"Could be nothing, Apollo." I saw him give a nervous gulp before I turned to the voice.

Same black hair, same green eyes, and same lean yet somewhat bulky body structure.

"No, continue Apollo, I'd like to know what you were gonna say about my mom. Ignore Poseidon." Both their eyes widened in shock, as if it was a surprise I was able to guess who he was.

"Come on guys, give me a little credit. Unnatural obsession with swimming since a young age, yet my mom stopped taking me to the beach when I was young right after I told her the fish were talking to me, I was also the swim captain at my school since I was allowed to join in 8th grade, which was 3 years ago, just is case you didn't know I was 17." I ignored Poseidon's shocked face and turned to Apollo.

"Now, what were you saying about my mom?" he looked for assurance at Poseidon, who was shaking his head hard.

"She's alive. Probably in a comatose state from her body trying to fight the 'infection', that also means…" I zoned out from the rest, focusing on one thing, and one thing only.

"I'm going to find her." Apollo stopped mid-sentence, mouth agape, while Poseidon shook his head slowly; obviously knowing I was going to want to go after her.

"That's…That's…"

"You're not going alone." Apollo's head jerked towards Poseidon, who had interrupted him.

"No use trying to stop him, so I might as well make some rules." Apollo just shook his head while continuing my checkup.

"I would go with, but Zeus won't let any major gods leave. We can't go to Olympus, it's in direct line with the gas and even with our lack of DNA, it still causes… problems." I knew he wasn't going to elaborate, so I nodded like I understood.

"Since I can't go with you, I want you to pick one person from each cabin to go with, Zeus has had every demigod down his throat trying to get a search mission out, so he'll agree." The rules didn't seem to bad so far, actually it sounded like I would just have extra help, so it was looking pretty good for me.

"You can't leave for a week, I want to train you before you go." A low growl crawled out of my throat at the last rule.

"I'm out of here tomorrow, twelve, and if you disagree than I'll sneak out of this camp… alone." I saw his jaw clench as he glared at me, causing me to glare back.

"Four days."

"Two.

"Three, it's Monday morning, so you'll leave Thursday morning."

"Wednesday night." I was honestly fine with Thursday morning, but I couldn't pass up and opportunity to get under his skin.

"Fine… but you pick everyone today and then I'll personally train with all of you until Wednesday night." I shrugged my shoulders nonchalantly before making my way out of the small, makeshift hospital room.

"He's just like you Uncle P. It's almost scary."

"I know… that's what scares me."

 **A/N: Wow, don't even know if I can call this a chapter… more like Intro Part 2. Anyways, I'm most likely not going to update until after Christmas (Merry Early Christmas by the way) so I just wanted to get up whatever I could.**

 **Sorry for any mistakes and the pure crapiness that is this chapter.**

 **Next chapter will be longer and better.**

 **Favorite, Follow, and Review.**

 **Marry Christmas!**


	3. Chapter 2

**-Chapter 2-**

I angrily made my way to the first cabin I saw, a bright yet small one that shone like gold.

After squinting my eyes for several seconds I realized it _was_ gold.

A few harsh bangs on the metallic door, and soon someone was opening it with an annoyed expression on their face.

"What? It's like 5 in the morning. Like who gets up at 5? Its like…" I ignored his sleepy grumbling and sized him up.

Same blonde hair, same blue eyes, same white teeth… son of Apollo.

"I'm Percy Jackson, son of Poseidon." He stared at my outstretched hand for several seconds before his sleep filled eyes widened slightly.

"Will… Will Solace, son of Apollo." The urge to point out the fact no one else would have a gold cabin came up, but I pushed it down and instead smiled forcefully.

"Is there like a training place or something…" he looked at me sleepily again, and I was almost sure he had fallen asleep standing up when suddenly he lurched forward with a goofy smile.

"Yeah! Sorry, I just don't get up until the sun gets up." I smiled awkwardly as he zoned out again slightly.

"It's right over there, we call it the Arena… I know, very creative." I looked over to where he was pointing and saw a large, coliseum like structure.

"Ok thanks, meet me there at 9." After a few seconds I saw the surprise slowly seep into his eyes.

"9? Why do I need to… do… tha-" he didn't finish, instead he turned around and shut the door, mumbling about training before lunch and how it should be against the law.

I stared at his door for a minute, silently hoping not all cabin members were going to be like this.

* * *

It a little before nine, and people were finally starting to come to the Arena.

( **A/N: you know what these people look like so I'm just going to list names** )

Thalia Grace, from Zeus.

Nico Di'Angelo, from Hades.

Katie Gardner, from Demeter.

Clarisse La Rue, from Ares.

Will Solace, from Apollo.

Leo Valdez, from Hephaestus.

Piper McLean, from Aphrodite.

The Stoll twins, Connor and Travis, from Hermes.

I looked around at the nine cabin leaders and frowned slightly.

Some had refused to go, or send away and of their cabin mates, but there should still be one more.

"I would say I'm sorry I'm late, but I'm not." I gritted my teeth and put on a phony smile, everyone seemed to notice, as they were all in front of me, but none mentioned it.

"Annabeth, hey." I turned around to face her and shivered at memories of our encounter this morning.

She was… unpleasant, to say the least.

"Shut up and tell us why we're here." I watched her walk over to the rest of the people, who were sitting in some chairs I had set out.

"I'm Percy Jackson, son of Poseidon, which most of you know." Leo raised his hand, an innocent smirk spread across his elfish features. I nodded my head in his direction, silently giving him permission to talk.

"Why are we here?" Thalia stood up and smacked him on the back of the head before yanking him back down into the seat next to hers.

"Shut up Valdez and maybe he'll tell us." A couple people snickered while Leo let out a huff.

"Now, as I was saying." I gave a pointed glare at Leo who sheepishly smiled back, "I'm taking you all out on a rescue mission." They all started talking amongst each other before I silenced it with a loud taxicab whistle.

"Listen!" Everyone immediately fell silent and looked forward obediently at me, "thank you. This was meant to be a rescue mission for my mom, a descendant of a demigod who is most likely still alive where I… where I left her." Ignoring everyone's pitying glance, I continued.

"Now I'm assuming ya'll know of any demigods that aren't here right now?" At everyone's confirming nods I kept going. "We're also going to need a Satyr to track demigods, or at least that's what my dad told me, but I figured ya'll could decide on who to bring." They started talking amongst each other discussing who to bring until Thalia stood up.

"Grover Underwood." I nodded approvingly even though I didn't know who he was.

"Ok, so we leave Wednesday night," I saw shock grow on their faces, but I pushed forward, "until then Poseidon will personally train us with every second of free time we have, and I want a list from each of you on demigods that aren't here. Any questions?" After waiting a minute in silence, I was about to dismiss them when Annabeth spoke up.

"And who made you leader of all this?" I met her hard glare with an easy going smile.

"No one, do you have anyone in mind that could do better?" A small glint of pride sparkled in her eyes as she nodded.

"As a matter of fact, I do." Everyone rolled their eyes as if annoyed, but their small smiles told me this was normal for her. "I believe I should lead the quest, as brains are obviously going to be much more useful than brawns in this situation." I raised an eyebrow while smirking at her.

"Brawns? Are you saying I'm muscular?" I flexed my arms slightly and couldn't help but smile at her flushed face.

"That's not what I meant-" Everyone was silently laughing behind her while I rolled my eyes playfully.

"Don't blow a fuse Chase. I was just kidding." She gaped at me for several seconds before letting out a frustrated sigh and storming out of the arena.

"Ok then, any more questions?" This time, Thalia answered me.

"Yeah, I got one." I nodded in acknowledgment, hoping this wasn't another challenge of authority, "Can my brother, Jason, go?"

"Sure thing Thals," I tried to ignore her glare at the nickname, "dad wanted me to get someone from every cabin anyways and I'm a couple short." She nodded her head happily and got up to leave, everyone slowly followed her while saying bye to me on their way out.

I sighed while sitting down on the sandy wooden floor.

Annabeth was gonna need some work.

* * *

"Ok demigods, today you'll start your training. I expect the utmost effort in all that you do, but beyond that I want to see teamwork. Although Percy was issued the 'quest', I have not yet decided who the leader will be." I ignored Annabeth's prideful smirk and focused on my father.

"First challenge, climb that wall." We looked at him confused before he pointed behind us, where a giant rock wall appeared.

"Rules are, all of you must climb at the same time, no taking turns, and if you don't reach the top you're staying here." Everyone nodded determinedly.

"Ready, set, GO!" I watched as everyone took off towards the wall and shook my head. He never said there was any prize for getting up there first.

"Jason, Thalia, stop." Everyone stopped a foot from the wall and turned to me. "Can you two control the winds?" Thalia shyly shook her head while Jason nodded.

"Ok, Jason you stay back with me. If anyone starts to fall you can use the winds to stop them." I turned away from him once he nodded and looked at everyone else.

"Who here thinks they'll have the hardest time getting up?" I saw Thalia raise a timid hand, to which I responded with a reassuring smile.

"Then you can go first, that way people below can help if you need it." They all stared at me as if waiting orders while I stared back…oh shit! They are!

"Ok, let's go." Thalia hesitantly started climbing the wall with Annabeth on one side of her, and Katie on the other. Following them was Piper, Leo, and The Stolls. Clarisse, Jason, and I took up the rear, making sure to stay close enough to help, but also far enough that if someone fell we'd be able to react in time to catch them.

Grover was apparently on his way back to camp with a daughter of Demeter he was tracking before the apocalypse, so he wasn't involved in the training.

"I'm there!" Annabeth was at the top, which wasn't necessarily a bad thing… except Thalia was still a good ten feet below her.

All I saw was Thalia looking down, and all hell broke loose.

Jason's handhold slipped, and he lost focus on the people above us.

Clarisse was short a foothold and barely balancing on the wall.

Thalia was coming down, fast.

I made a split second decision and jumped off the wall, obviously Thalia had fainted, and falling from this height while unconscious could no doubt kill her.

So I grappled onto her mid air, spinning us around so that she was tight against my chest and my back was on the ground.

3

2

1

…What the heck?

After looking down at the ground, which happened to be a hand made out of water, I looked back up at the group.

"Keep going guys, Thalia's fine." Everyone looked up at the top, where a shell-shocked Annabeth sat, and then back down at me, where an unconscious Thalia lay on the ground.

Annabeth was the only one who made it to the top.

* * *

"What the hell were you thinking?" Annabeth stood in front of me, fire dancing in her eyes, but beyond that there was guilt.

"Everything was fine, Poseidon was going to-" She stopped short when my hand slammed into the table we were standing next to. Poseidon had taken us to the Big House, this… well… Big Blue House, and now we were standing at a ping-pong table, screaming our heads off at each other.

"But you didn't know he was going to do that!" She glared at me harshly, which I ignored, "Thalia could have died! Do you not see that? What if Poseidon wasn't watching? What if he wasn't going to help us?" Guilt flooded me when I saw her tear rimmed eyes, but I pressed on further.

"Apparently children of Athena think the most out of anyone in the camp, but from what you've shown me, they only think of themselves."

The screen door to the Big House slammed shut.

A teenage girl ran away sobbing.

I slumped in the seat next to me with only one thought in mind.

Annabeth was gonna need some work.

 **A/N: Surprise, surprise! Christmas present (for the few people that are reading this). I think I can finally call this a chapter. Story lines moving forward, Percabeth action is happening ;), and they're about to leave on the 'quest'.**

 **In case you were confused, this story is about the 'quest', not about Titans or Gaia or anything.**

 ** _PLEASE_ review, favorite, and follow. I understand I'm a new author with a new story, but two followers and a favorite aren't very motivating.**


	4. Chapter 3

-Chapter 3-

I let out a shaky breath, shifting the weight on my shoulder slightly.

"You don't have to go Percy," my teeth ground together, stopping the release of pent-up stress that would undoubtedly cause hurtful meaningless words, "nobody will call you a coward, nobody will be mad at you." The worry in my father's eyes showed that he was trying to be helpful, but it wasn't working.

"You've only been here three days, and the only other people willing to come along are the most experienced and powerful demigods at camp. Nobody expects you to be on their level yet." I could feel the anger boiling in me, ready to spew at a moments notice, "Nobody needs you to."

"Mom does, ok!" the backpack filled with my clothing and other necessary supplies flew to the grassy ground with a thud.

"I don't expect you to understand, since you could never tell when she needed you, not when she was being…" I stopped and stared at my trembling hands. He wasn't ready to hear that, and I wasn't ready to tell it.

"I gotta go," it was an incoherent mumble, but the message was clear, "everyone's probably waiting on me." It was an obvious lie, considering we weren't supposed to leave until around 11:30 and it was barely 11, yes, PM.

He nodded his head dejectedly before muttering a weak good-bye and turning back to our shared cabin.

"Come on Perce, it's almost time for us to leave." Jason stood next to me, lips pursed as he thoughtfully watched Poseidon's retreating figure.

"He only means the best, you know?" I nodded stiffly while shouldering my pack and following him up the hill.

"Doesn't mean it is the best." Jason gave a small shrug in reply while fiddling with the coin in his hand.

"I don't think any parent can give the best, especially not one who's been forced away from his son and missed out on every developing moment in his life." The fact godly parents couldn't interfere in mortal affairs had always been an unapproachable subject.

How could we be born if they didn't interfere in 'mortal affairs', but at the same time most demigods who receive help from their godly parents suffer horrible fates.

It was a crooked line drawn out by the Fates, so that they could weave out their 'perfect story' without any blame.

"Yeah, I guess. Still doesn't make up for the fact I would've probably died in California if it weren't for this apocalypse." It was true, my scent was getting stronger, and it wouldn't have taken long for me to somehow discover my powers, which would ultimately lead to my death.

"True, true, but just give Poseidon a chance. I gave Zeus one, and he blew it, Thalia and I even make him sleep in Hera's cabin," he paused and smirked broadly, "but Poseidon may be different. You'll never know unless you try."

"Since when did you become so philosophical, Jase?" his cheeks burnt a bright red as he turned to the speaker, Piper McLean.

"Maybe I've always been this way Pipes, you were just too busy ogling to notice." Jason topped it off with an exaggerated wink, causing Piper to burst into laughter. They were soon deep into conversation, leaving me leaning on a pine tree watching them like a creep.

Thalia and Nico were propped up against a fallen tree, gently leaning against each other sleeping. Will sat on the other side of Nico, where he was going through his bag and stocking it with medical supplies.

Leo was huddled with the Stolls, undoubtedly trying to get past the firm 'no pranks, jokes, or stealing' rule we had established.

Katie had already told us she was going to be slightly late, since it was her night to water the garden and 'plants come before quests' according to her.

Clarisse was sitting on a nearby log, sharpening a spear that cackled with electricity.

That left Annabeth, who was sitting on the ground slumped against a tree a few feet away.

Leaves crunched underneath my feet as I made my way over to her.

"Hey Annabeth," she looked up from her sketchbook, which I failed to notice earlier, and glared at me.

I pointedly ignored it before sitting on the ground across from her.

"So… whatcha drawing?" She stopped for a second before continuing on as if she hadn't heard me.

"I've never really been good at drawing, maybe if I could sit still long enough to try I would be decent, but for me that's pretty much impossible." After she ignored me I looked out over the strawberry field, the soft glow of torches showing Katie half-way through the field.

"Ok, what's your problem?" Annabeth finally looked up from her sketching, and I immediately wished she hadn't. Her glare sent shivers down my spine, but past the hardened façade I saw hurt, and brokenness similar to the one that greeted me in the mirror ever since I left my mom.

"None of your business jackass." Obviously acting snobbish back wouldn't work.

"It kind of is since you've been treating me like crap ever since I woke up." I tried anyways. It resulted in a glare accompanied by angry muttering as she turned back to her sketchbook.

"Hey guys, mom took over the garden so that I could get up here quicker." My gaze quickly tore away from Annabeth where a cheerful Katie was practically bouncing with energy.

"Someone's excited. Is it cause you getta spend a week with the most charming, handsome hunk of a man you've ever seen?" Everyone, even Annabeth, looked over to a smirking Travis, who was wiggling his eyebrows in a suggestive manner.

"I mean, Percy's pretty hot, but I don't know about the _most_ handsome man I've seen." Travis looked over at me in shock while everyone laughed at his failed attempt to flirt.

My smile slowly faded as I saw Annabeth scowling while erasing something on her paper so hard she was most likely going to tear a hole in it.

I wasn't sure what her problem was with me, but I intended to find out.

"Ok guys, who's driving the van?" Leo asked the question, and all heads immediately turned to me.

Poseidon had pulled the gods together to watch us train, and I had been almost unanimously chosen to lead the quest. The only exception being Athena, who agreed with her daughter in that 'brains are better than brawns'.

"I'll drive first, let everyone get in some extra sleep after we decide where to go first, and then someone else can take the wheel for a little bit." Truth is, I never imagined myself being a leader. I never even thought anyone would listen to what I had to say, but it did feel… natural. Not bossing people around, and forcing people to listen to me, it just felt right getting to help people not only physically, but also by taking the emotional burden that comes with making decisions.

"Sounds good to me, but I call shotgun. I get motion sickness easily." Thalia looked around as if daring someone to challenge her.

We had semi-instantly bonded through the training. It took a little bit to get past our similar snaky, stubborn personalities, but now I consider her family, along with everyone else in our group.

Pretty soon we were all loaded up in the car and on our way.

"So, what's the game plan," I looked through the rear-view mirror and met the eyes of everyone except Annabeth, who kept looking out the window like I didn't say a word, "we can either go all the way west, and work our way back, or go ahead south and then make our way west." True, I would much rather go with the first option so that I could get to my mother quicker, but I'm sure these people had friends and family that they wanted to get to just as much as I wanted to get to my mom.

"You're making it sound like we're just going to drive on the highway and pick up demigods like they're hitchhikers." All eyes were on Annabeth as she gave me a cold glare.

"We have to go through pretty much every state to get all of them, and that's not even accounting for the zombies, the fact that they didn't stay in their homes and we're most likely going to have to track them down, and also the fact some of them are dead, and we have virtually no way to know who is and who isn't." The small traces of happiness and energy in the air were immediately gone, Annabeth's harsh reality slowly settling in.

"This isn't going to be easy, and it's not going to be fun. There's no guarantee all of us will make it back alive, and there's pretty much no chance everyone on this list is alive or will be by the time we get to them." Everyone nervously fidgeted in their seat, and when Annabeth noticed she let out a deep sigh.

"I'm sorry everyone, but I just looked at the facts, and that's exactly what the facts are saying. Now the good news is, my mom and I have studied the zombies. They gain intelligence as they go, but this most certainly does not make them any more human, so don't hesitate to kill them." A collective sigh of relief was heard, we knew it would be necessary to kill them, but it wouldn't be easy if they were becoming human again.

"The fact they gain intelligence has caused them to stop going after what seems like the best thing to eat, such as demigods," Annabeth glanced up at me before continuing, "so they now go after animals, and even grocery stores. Anything that has meat and is easy to kill." My thoughts drifted back to when I was on the run, back to right before I made it to camp.

"That's cool, but not completely true." Annabeth sent a spiteful glare my way as everyone's eyes focused on me.

"They don't want to eat us, but they're pretty much stereotypical zombies, just wanting to chase us down and turn us into one of them." I looked back at the road, trying to keep my eye out for any zombies, which I surprisingly hadn't seen so far. "Either that, or they're progressing just like you said, and now they want to kill off anything higher than them on the food chain."

"And how do you know this?" This time it was Nico who spoke up; I had probably grown just as close to him as I had Thalia.

"They never tried to eat me, simple as that. I would get scratched, bit, some even figured out how to make traps, but they never would never try to eat me… kill? Yes, but not eat." Some looked unconvinced while others watched out the window fearfully. It didn't matter much to me who they decided to believe, because for all I know Annabeth could be right, but I'm pretty sure, deep down, everyone knew I was on the right track.

"Dear gods are we almost there yet?" I sleepily turned to look at Thalia, who was looking close to passing out in her seat, which she assured me wouldn't happen due to her motion sickness.

"How the Hades am I supposed to know? Stupid zombies built a mother effing barricade and now I'm pretty much lost." I knew Thalia wouldn't hold the snappiness against me, we hadn't left camp until almost mid-night and everyone was managing to get some sleep in besides Thalia and me.

"Hey Owl Face, you know where we're at, right?" We both looked back, only to see she hadn't even budged from Thalia's loud outburst, nobody had.

"Well that's just great, I don't know about you but I'm just about the worst navigator ever." She looked at me and opened her mouth to say something, only to emit a loud snore.

Her head slumped back against the seat, and her eyes slowly closed while I sat there shocked.

"Did you seriously just fall asleep? How did _any_ of you fall asleep?" I glanced back using my mirror and saw everyone's peaceful, sleeping faces.

Nico and Will sat in the back row; both leaning against their respective windows with Clarisse slumped in the middle. Piper and Jason were in the next row. Jason was leaning against his window while Piper was snuggled up against him. Leo was in the same row as them, but was leaning against the window on the opposite side of the van.

The row directly behind us had Conner, then Travis and Katie were slumped against each other, and finally Annabeth, who was curled up against the passenger side door.

"Well Annabeth, not quite sure what to do with you asleep." I sent another cautious glance her way to ensure she was sleeping.

"Sons of Poseidon aren't exactly the brightest kids on the block, maybe a daughter of Poseidon would be a little smarter, but I don't really know of him having any daughters." My eyes trained back on the road as I quickly passed a group of zombies, who were munching on some dead corpse.

"Maybe you were right, that's like the fifth group of zombies I've driven past in the past half-hour, and they don't even glance up at us. Just keep munching on dead animals and such." A weight suddenly slammed into my seat, and soon a head of golden blonde curls was in between Thalia and I.

"Stop the car."

I didn't hesitate to slam on the brakes; waking everyone up while also giving me something else to think about besides the fact Annabeth just heard everything I said.

"Like I said earlier, they gain intelligence." She looked out the front window carefully, her eyes gleaming as she searched the empty road in front of us, "That means they would know we were a threat, and wouldn't just let us pass without even looking at out car." I slowly caught onto what she was saying as I locked the doors to our car.

"What the hell is going on?" Connor, along with everybody else, was rubbing the sleep out of his eyes while alertly searching the car for signs of trouble.

"Ambush." The car grew silent at Annabeth's warning. We all started nervously glancing out the windows as I slowly urged the car forward.

"Maybe we were wrong," I turned towards Annabeth as I spoke, "I mean, they can't be _that_ smart already… right?" The words had barely left my mouth when the car shuddered harshly, repeating the motion almost immediately.

"They blew the tires." Leo was pointing out the window were a makeshift spike strip was made.

"How in the gods of Olympus did they learn how to do that? Most _normal_ mortals can't even manage to put out a real spike strip." Thalia's outburst quickly brought life back to the quiet car as we all pulled out our weapons and unlocked the doors.

I received strange glances from all of them as I pulled out a black, ballpoint pen, but given the fact Jason was holding a coin, and Thalia a can of mace, I didn't really get where they were coming from.

"Wait… does celestial bronze even hurt them?" All eyes went from Will, who asked the question, to Annabeth, who nodded confidently.

"It should." That certainly didn't bring any confidence to the group. I decided now would be a good moment to step up as the quest leader.

"If they don't, we'll find out some other way to kill them." All eyes were on me as I spoke, making me simultaneously nervous and excited.

"You aren't the most respected warriors at camp for nothing." I felt a spark in the group as determination and confidence rose within them.

"You weren't trained from a young age just to get scared when faced with a couple brainless mortals."

"You weren't personally trained by Poseidon just to run away at the first sign of trouble." The determination could literally be _felt_ rolling off of them, making me pray this wasn't some ragtag group of kid zombies that posed no threat, that'd make me seem a little foolish for the whole speech thing.

"We are demigods. We are going to go out there, and kick some zombie ass." A surprisingly loud war cry arose within the car as we all opened our doors and jumped out of the car… unaware of the true dangers that lurked outside.

A/N: Now we're getting somewhere. Chapters will probably come out a little slower since I need to take more time on them; earlier chapters were just fillers, so it was easier to make them quickly.

Got some more reviews, favorites, and follows, keep it up! If you're reading it and like the story, at least leave a little review as a guest, just so I know people are enjoying it.


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